The present invention relates generally to devices for closing a gap between adjacent spaced objects, such as juxtaposed clothes washer and dryer appliances, and more particularly to an inexpensive device for releasable mounting between such juxtaposed but spaced appliances to prevent articles from falling into a gap between the appliances.
It is a common practice in both home laundry facilities and commercial coin-op laundries to place a clothes washer appliance in juxtaposed or relatively close side-by-side relation with a dryer appliance, as is typical in home laundry facilities, or position clothes washers and/or dryers in rows of juxtaposed washers or dryers as typical in commercial coin-op facilities. In either case, the juxtaposed washer and dryer appliances are generally spaced apart sufficiently to enable articles of clothing or other objects to fall into a gap between the juxtaposed appliances, thereby requiring retrieval and often re-washing if damp clothes become soiled by being inadvertently dropped into the gap during transfer from the washer to the dryer. This problem is made more severe when a washer is positioned on a tray-like pad adapted to catch water that might leak out of the washer. The periphery of the tray pad usually extends outwardly from the periphery of the washer sidewalls thereby causing a larger than normal space or gap to be created between the juxtaposed appliances into which objects may drop. Accordingly, an inexpensive device adapted to be readily inserted between spaced juxtaposed appliances, such as clothes washers and dryers, at their upper surface levels so as to cover the gap created therebetween would overcome the aforedescribed problems.